Thursday, July 14, 2011

VIG: Very Important Gadflies

I first saw spoken word maestro Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai on Russel Simmons Def Jam Poetry, and remained a fan.  Her video for "Black, White Whatever..." is cached on my computer, and I'm lucky enough to share the Kelly goof/goodness with my youth, who appreciate her honest and wry approach on how she identifies herself.  How could I not admire this obvious BrownGirl Gadfly when out of her mouth flew the words:

“Sometimes, I wish [my spoken word persona] was an outlet or a character since it gets me into trouble,” says Tsai. “I think I took that stereotype of Asian females as being silent and passive and just imploded it in reverse.”

So when perusing Audrey Magazine this month, I was stoked to see a little piece on one of my favorite spoken word YouTube sensations (as the article points out, her videos have gone viral) as well as some excerpts from Kelly's poems. It's hard talking about the so called "hard issues" of racism, class, love, sex and discrimination with both humor AND alliteration, no less...
So, I'm late to the game, but I've FINALLY downloaded Zen-Yie Tsai's 2nd album, which dropped this past December, and is up for free download, called Further She Wrote and produced Black Cracker (who I don't doubt is dope, but whose name made me chuckle anyways... I'm still six.)  I especially am digging "Real Women I Know" and "Letter to Lauryn Hill", which is even funnier than you imagine it could be.

 
Kelly has also just been selected as Urban Word NYC & New York Live Art’s Artist-In-Residence for 2011-2012 during New York Live Arts.  I know it's a loooooong way off, but apparently in-progress viewings of the solo show will be on January 20-21, 2012 at New York Live Arts. (For info, her website is here.)  I'm madwickedhella jealous, and obviously need to plan a trip to NYC, and will now have a year to put my pennies in a "Goin' to see Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai" piggy bank (no, really...)  

See you guys there?

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